Code Lyoko,The Forgotten Warrior Trilogy story 1, Sketch of a Lifetime
by Toa andrew
Summary: After three moves, it looks like Andrew has finally found somewhere he can call home. But before he can settle down to a life of friends and schoolwork, he is plunged into an extraordinary groups' effort to defend the world from a homicidal Artificial Intelligence. From a shy boy to a teen hero, Andrew will discover a world of constant danger and close calls.
1. Chapter 1 - Drawn to Discovery

Andrew was not usually the adventurous type. To be fair he was more of a loner, whether that was to do with him being shy or moving from place to place as his dad's firm moved him all over Europe, he didn't know. However when he came to his obsession with art, he just couldn't resist. With sketchbook in hand he had explored most of the French town over the last couple of days, but one prize was still waiting…

The abandoned factory stood in front of him, the walls derelict and covered in graffiti. He wondered what this place could have been used for in its prime, Perhaps a car manufactory. Whatever it was the place was a mess now . A single bridge over the river stood between him and the secrets within. He had already been gone an hour after telling his parents he would be gone for twenty minutes. He was expecting a call from them any minute now but the opportunity was so close he could taste it. He made his way across the river whilst imagining the things that could be inside to sketch.

Whilst inside he came across a number of metal poles holding the construction up. Above him there were platforms on either side of the factory, although the rest of the huge room was empty. Andrew explored the place further, although there didn't seem to be anything of interest. He considered sketching out the building its self but he had already drawn so many other buildings that week. To his right he could see what looked like a lift.

"Jackpot!"

The double doors were already open, allowing Andrew to walk straight in. This is how far his luck went however, as the button on the right hand side of the elevator refused to work. Without entering the correct code he wouldn't be going anywhere. He entered a few codes but none of them came close. Andrew abandoned the lift and searched for another way down. Various corridors led off to the main manufactory machines. One room contained a number of conveyor belts, obliterating Andrew's idea of it previously being a car factory. He opened another door. Nothing. At this rate all he was doing was wasting his time.

He looked at his phone. It was 4:30 and his parents would definitely be starting to get worried. He considered calling them but then thought again, worrying what they would think if they knew he was in the abandoned factory. He placed the device back into his pocket and moved on. Besides the door he could see an air vent with one corner bent out of shape.

"That must lead somewhere interesting..." Andrew thought, just before wondering why he thought an air vent would lead somewhere interesting.

Regardless of his strange thoughts, he couldn't find another way down from there, so into the air vent he crawled. Pulling the grate off was a challenge to start with, but in its bent state it soon gave in. The vent suddenly came loose, slamming into Andrew's knee in the process. He grimaced and hissed through his teeth. Was all of this really worth it for a sketch of a crappy old factory? Still he carried on, his curiosity getting the better of him. He struggled through the air vent as every bit of pressure on his right knee sent a shooting pain through his leg. The vent went on for quite a way and forked off in different directions, but each was a dead end.

Andrew continued to crawl through, his clothes now caked in dust. What on Earth would he tell his parents? At last he found an exit. In front of him was another grate leading to a thin tube-shaped room. He pushed on the grate to release it and sure enough it fell down the tube-shaped room and landing with a clang down below. From the delay it sounded like quite a fall, now was not the time for slip ups! The room wasn't a room at all, but rather a ladder shaft. Reaching out Andrew grabbed the ladder with his left hand and carefully pulled himself out of the air vent, dragging a bed of dust behind him. At last he reached out to grab his sketchbook and carried on down the ladder. He could see the grate down below him, just as his fear of heights crept in.

"Slowly does it, one step. One step."

Strangely the ladder wasn't as dusty as he expected. In fact, he could have sworn that some parts had hand marks in the dust that was there. Andrew regarded it as workers looking the place over for demolition of something. He could see he was approaching a large room below him, oddly with plenty of light.

"Surely it should be pitch-black down here?" Andrew thought to himself.

Andrew's foot came in contact with the floor, and his head with relief. He turned round to start searching for something to draw, anything. What he saw however was beyond his imagination. In front of him sat a huge, dome like machine connected to a chair and various monitors and controls. The chair was suspended in the air and wired to a crane mechanism.

"This is amazing!"

Andrew circled the room, looking at every aspect of his discovery. Anyone would assume that the thing must have been used to control the factory, but it looked nothing like a control centre, more like a super-computer. From what he could see, the machine was still on. On the right arm of the chair he could see an ear piece. Andrew examined it in his hand. It looked normal enough. Curious, he put it on but heard nothing. Nervously, he experimented further.

Worrying about the repercussions but at the same time feeling excited, he placed his hand on the main keyboard in front of him. Luckily for him the chair was not in the way, as it appeared to move along the crane system to its final destination in front of the monitors. Andrew had no idea how to work it so it would have just been a hindrance. Andrew pressed the enter key. The computer didn't respond.

"Well that's disappointing."

He pressed it again, then the space bar, then every key he could see. The machine simply refused to do anything.

"What's wrong with this thing?"

Without warning the screens in front of him flashed into life. It wasn't anything Andrew did as his hand wasn't touching the keyboard at the time. The screens in front him were all running codes of some sort and other complicated algorithms. But the most interesting discovery of all was what was shown on the main display. A computer-generated model of a pink-haired girl was looking back at him. She had pointed ears resembling that of an elf and pink stripes down her cheeks falling away from her eyes like war paint.

"Hello? Jeremy, is that you?" The girl was speaking out from the computer.

A million thoughts went through Andrew's head. Was this a video game, or an artificial intelligence? The voice had come from the earpiece he was still wearing, but the avatar on the screen spoke as he heard the voice. Expecting the impossible, Andrew replied.

"…Who are you?"

Immediately on the screen the girl's eyebrows shot up in surprise. She heard him!

"Did you just hear me?" Andrew was in awe of this discovery.

"Why, yes. But I don't recognise your voice. Are you a friend of Jeremy's?"

Andrew could be very perceptive when he wanted to. He thought over what she had just said. She thought that he was a person called Jeremy or one of his friends so he must have discovered the machine before Andrew. Secondly, Jeremy must be a boy rather than an adult as she had mistaken Andrew's voice for his. Lastly, what the hell was he doing!? He was standing there talking to a computer. What he saw on the screen couldn't be alive and yet what he saw on the screen was displaying more than just A.I. She was blinking occasionally as they talked. She conveyed emotion in every sentence. Whoever had built that thing must have been a genius.

"Did this Jeremy find you first? Or did he create you?" Andrew asked her…it… I don't know.

"I…" She hesitated.

At that moment Andrew's phone began to ring. He was dreading this moment. Slowly he raised his phone from his pocket to his ear, forgetting that he had the ear piece in. He removed it and spoke to his mother on the other end. As he moved he could see the Pink-haired girl follow his arm. Not only could she hear him, she could see him too!

"Yes I'm on my way now… Yeah I know I said twenty minutes but… sorry! Yep… see you soon."

His exploration was over for today. He put the ear piece back on.

"I'm sorry… what is your name?"

"Aelita." She answered. Andrew had never heard that name before; he thought it might be a code name or abbreviation or something.

"Goodbye Aelita. See you soon." And with that he placed the ear-piece back on the chair and limped towards the ladder.

"Wait! Who are you?" Aelita called back but Andrew could no longer hear. The room was left alone once again as Aelita shut off the monitors.


	2. Chapter 2 - Security Breach

"Oh why won't this stupid thing work!?" A frustrated Jeremy pushed the keyboard across the table.

The same failure message taunted him on the screen; the red exclamation mark pierced his temper like a blade. For over a year he had tirelessly worked to bring the program to perfection, but even for him it was proving an impossible task. It was way past midnight already and yet Jeremy typed away as he always did. The rest of the students at Kadic Academy were fast asleep, well, say for Ulrich Stern whose snoring roommate sounded like a jet engine.

"What if I adjust the DNA signature to this…?" Jeremy would not stop even when his friends fought furiously to persuade him to sleep in his bed for once instead of using the keyboard as a pillow.

Jeremy ran the test program again. On his screen a complex set of codes were activated. The Avatar of a pointy-eared, pink-haired girl was displayed with her arms stretched out. The program scanned every element of her body, translating human DNA, Amino Acids and Organs from computer code. At the time what Jeremy was attempting to do was pure science fiction to anyone else, but then again, so were most of the events in their life. The scan aborted itself in the same place it always did, resulting in the death of the test version of Aelita.

"Damn I'm such an idiot! I'm never going to get this to work." He put his hand through his blonde hair and took off his glasses with the other.

His chemistry text book next to his elbow reminded him of the science test in the morning. Even with his lack of sleep, Jeremy Belpois' 98% grade average had never faltered, unlike the 75% grade average of two of his friends. Grades or school didn't matter to him at times like that though. Ever since he discovered the super computer over a year prior, the lives of him and his friends had become ones of constant danger. It was then that the malevolent Artificial Intelligence X.A.N.A was once again released upon the world. Using the power of the super computer, X.A.N.A worked unendingly to bring destruction and death to the world and ultimately, take control of planet Earth. His motives were unknown to the group, if he even had one. That is what made them fear X.A.N.A even more.

And then there was Aelita, the guardian of Lyoko. In meeting here Jeremy's life changed forever. From that day he continued to find a way of giving her a new life on Earth. To Jeremy Aelita was already human, a person with emotions like everyone else, one he shared his own emotions with, and even affection for…

Jeremy finally gave in. He left his swivel chair and began to undress into his pyjamas. He could hear his friend Odd snoring down the corridor and felt sorry for Ulrich, and just a tad smug that he had his own room. His third friend, Yumi Ishiyama was a day student at the Academy and so went home in the evening. This made meeting up in the event of X.A.N.A attacks more frustrating and fraught with danger.

With unfortunate timing, Jeremy was taking off his shirt when his screen shot back into life. Aelita's avatar appeared on the screen leaving him panicking and blushing.

"Aelita! Quick, look away!" He threw his top over the screen to conceal himself, and his embarrassment.

"Is everything alright Jeremy?" She asked in her sweet voice.

"Err, yeah, sorry. I'm just getting dressed for bed." He answered quite sheepishly.

She giggled, more from the confusion of him throwing his shirt at the monitor than at what he was doing; she didn't yet understand his feeling of embarrassment.

"Right… there we go." He was now dressed and sitting in his chair where he pulled the top from over his computer. Her head was sideways and looking towards the bottom of the computer screen as if to look under the thrown top.

"Oh! There you are!" She answered him.

"Sorry about that Aelita, I didn't expect you there. I was… just getting dressed." His cheeks were quickly turning red.

"You mean you are actually going to sleep in your own bed tonight?" She joked. "I've seen you drooling on your keyboard sometimes." He blushed even more.

"No I don't." He wiped his mouth with his sleeve almost by instinct. He looked at the clock beside him. It was 12:30, if Jeremy was caught awake at that time of night he would be punished. Still, Aelita was 'in the room' so he didn't care.

"Anyway, is everything alright on Lyoko? Has X.A.N.A activated a tower?" He was concerned. He always hated attacks at night above all others as it was the most difficult time to slip out.

"No. Actually, X.A.N.A has been strangely quite recently. I think he might be planning something. What I called to tell you is… something else."

Jeremy was confused and slightly embarrassed… again. He would rehearse in his mind how he would tell her how he felt, but maybe he thought it would sound better when she is finally on Earth. Was she about to say it to him? He was disappointed.

"Earlier on today, someone came into the factory." She didn't know how to tell Jeremy. This meant their secret was out. The group and maybe even the entire world were at risk.

"Someone… was in the factory? Did they find the lab? Do they know about you?" Well of course they found the lab Jeremy, he thought to himself, otherwise how would Aelita know?

"I'm sorry Jeremy. I couldn't do anything. He was in the lab and was asking questions." She looked apologetic and felt that she had let the team down. She was innocent and saw no bad in anyone besides X.A.N.A, what if the person she spoke to meant them harm?

Jeremy couldn't believe it. Whoever it was he needed to know.

"What were they like?" He asked her.

"He didn't tell me his name. He looked about your age and had black hair. He seemed fascinated by me and the super computer. He reminded me of you on the first day we met. Also he was wearing a blue hoodie and jeans."

Jeremy thought of everyone at the academy. If he lives in the town then it is possible that he goes to Kadic. But there wasn't anyone at the school that resembled her description. In a couple of days the school would be greeting three new students. He decided to wait and see if this 'intruder' was about to join the academy.

"What did he ask you? Did he say anything noticeable?"

Aelita thought for a moment.

"He asked me who I was and who created me. Wait! He also said 'see you soon' when he left. Someone called him on his cell phone but he didn't reveal anything."

Someone was approaching the room outside in the corridor.

"Sorry Aelita. Got to go. Warn us if X.A.N.A wakes up again and thanks for telling me about today. Goodnight." He ran to his bed and hid under the covers.

"Bye." Aelita switched off the computer.

Whoever was in the corridor didn't walk in, much to Jeremy's belief. He assumed it must be Jim the P.E teacher skulking around again. When the coast was clear he sat up and thought about what Aelita had said. Someone had found their way into the factory and discovered the super computer. Until he found out who it was, they would all be in danger.

…

Andrew looked out of his window at the full moon. His parents and sister were all asleep but he couldn't sleep a wink. He had made an amazing discovery and even then was doodling away. He looked at the piece of paper in front of him, the moon being the only source of light. The Pink-Haired virtual girl was roughly drawn in front of him, along with the computer monitors that surrounded her. Whoever she was, he would find out, as well as the identity of this 'Jeremy' person. He had limited time though, as he began his first day at Kadic Academy in three days. He decided that he would go back to the factory again in the morning and draw the machine properly. After all, he did promise Aelita that they would see each other again soon…


	3. Chapter 3 - Unwelcome Guest

:A bit of a speech heavy chapter this time but I couldn't help it! The Lyoko gang are a chatty bunch, especially Odd! Just a heads up!:

Odd looked at his watch. 8:00 AM and Jeremy still wasn't there. He promised that he would meet him and Ulrich by the drink machine at 7:45. Odd could just bet that Jeremy had been up in his room talking to Aelita till the early hours of the morning, and that's exactly what he thought he was doing now. Deciding not to wait any longer he entered his change into the machine and selected the hot chocolate.

"Oh I don't believe it! Does this thing ever work?" Odd saw just a dribble of chocolate fall into his cup before kicking the machine. The result was just another small drip.

"Maybe you've just emptied the hot chocolate by yourself again, hey Odd?" Ulrich was leaning with his back against the wall.

"Not true! I saw them refill it yesterday! Now where will I find a warm and refreshing beverage!?" He yelled to the sky and waved his arms.

"Yeah, you saw them refill it after you emptied it for the second time this month." Odd looked at him all embarrassed and scratched his back.

Jeremy still hadn't come down from his room, but at least they could see Yumi walking towards them.

"Hey guys." She gave them the usual greeting and smiled at Ulrich. "Have you seen Milly and Tamia this morning? Apparently there's this famous actor who's just moved into town and that's all they keep talking about. They said they wanted to get a scoop for the school paper if any of us see him."

The group saw the two year 7 girls walk past. Tamia was holding their camera in her hands as Milly told her something, no doubt about the actor.

"A famous actor, huh? I wonder who it could be." Ulrich puzzled.

"Who knows? Anyway I'm going to go and speak with Milly." Odd abandoned the drink machine and walked away.

"But they've already said they don't know who it is!" Yumi called after him.

"I know, but Milly's hot chocolate is dying to find out who I am!" Odd had homed in on the drink Milly was holding as she walked past.

"Don't you dare Odd! Isn't stealing drinks from little girls degrading, even for you?" Ulrich was running after him.

"Not stealing, persuading!" He grinned back at them.

Yumi watched as the two boys ran into the distance. How would she tell Ulrich how she really felt? Every time she tried to she just seized up and so would Ulrich. They were both locked in a frustrating position between friendship and, well, something else.

"Where are they off to in a rush?" Jeremy was standing behind her with his backpack on.

"I see you've finally pulled yourself away from Aelita!" She laughed.

"We both had some important stuff to take care of. Speaking of which, I need to talk to all of you about something serious that happened yesterday in the factory. I think our secret might be out." He warned her.

"What!" She was shocked beyond belief. "Who's found out?"

"I've found out! I've finally found the sweet taste of hot chocolate." Odd and Ulrich were back with the group, with a fresh cup of hot chocolate resting snugly in Odd's hands as if it was destined to be there.

"Oh my God Odd, that isn't Milly's is it?" Yumi frowned at him. Odd was not the type to go stealing other people's drinks; their food on the other hand was another story.

"Not any more, now it's mine." He poured half the drink into his mouth, protected by his almost supernatural immunity to the temperature built up from the gallons he had drunk over the years.

"I couldn't believe it Yumi. There they were going off to find a new battery for the camera when Odd here skulks over to them and says he knows who the new actor in town is." Ulrich explained the situation. Odd looked fulfilled and almost in a daydreaming phase as he downed the drink.

"Let me guess, he said he would arrange an interview with him for the hot chocolate, right?" Yumi asked him.

Odd threw the paper cup into the bin beside them.

"Do I look like an idiot?" Odd asked them.

"Yes! They all said in unison.

"That is harsh guys. I promised to arrange an interview with them for all the hot chocolates they buy this week." Odd looked smug and rather pleased with himself.

"Two problems there Odd. One, you don't really know who this actor is." Jeremy pointed out having been given the speech by Milly and Tamia in the hall way.

"That's just a technicality. It shouldn't take long to find him right?" Odd waved his hands in front of himself.

"And two, Milly and Tamia can just simply not buy anymore hot chocolate this week." Odd's dream of a week-long stream of hot chocolate was shattered as he fell to the floor. He crawled over to the drink machine.

"I'm sorry chocolate! I have let you down!" He pretended to cry.

"He's such a dork." Ulrich remarked. "Your still finding out who this actor is for Milly and Tamia though, you made a promise and you don't want them coming after you."

Odd looked up and got back on his feet.

"Oh God I'd rather fall into the digital sea!"

Speaking of perishing, the group were being approached by a recurring pest.

"Oh, Ulrich dear!" It was Sissi, being followed by her admirers Herb and Nicholas as usual.

The group turned to face her.

"Or even worse, go on a date with Sissi!" Odd remarked.

"Actually I'd rather full in the digital sea." Ulrich added.

"Oh, I see Yumi is still following you around everywhere you go like a lapdog." Sissi continued her never ending wave of insults on the group.

"Oh I see pea-brain and spot-face are still skulking behind you like… a…. oh, I don't have one. That's weird. I must have used all my jokes up when you fell in that mud puddle yesterday!" The rest of the group remembered the joyous event and laughed.

"Humph!" Ulrich, when are you going to stop hanging out with these losers and finally embrace your feelings for me?" She flattered herself as Herb admired her.

"Let me think… oh, when Odd's grade average improves by two per cent, which means never." Ulrich answered her. Odd laughed and then thought about the comment again and became confused.

"Well then, you may have just lost out Ulrich, as apparently that new actor in town is sending his son to Kadic in a few days and you can just bet that the son of a talented man like that will be begging to hang out with me! And he won't have to ask twice!" Was she bluffing or being serious?

"If he has any sort of sense he won't be caught dead with you, unless of course he's just acting." Odd answered.

At that point Sissi stormed off. The group always knew how to get an angry reaction from her; unfortunately, she had similar skills for them.

"Well I see Dr Shrink has finally emerged from his lair!" Odd acknowledged Jeremy's presence at last. "What took you so long, lose your change or lose yourself in Aelita's bright virtual eyes?" He held his hands to his head in a romantic pose.

"Lay off Odd. Actually Aelita and I were discussing something very serious. Apparently someone snuck into the factory yesterday and found the super computer." Jeremy began to explain.

"Hold on, someone? Who was it Jeremy?" Ulrich and the others were panicking.

"Aelita said it was someone our age, a boy with black hair and a blue jacket. She also said he was fascinated by her and the super computer." Jeremy continued.

"He reminds me of you!" Odd butt in. Jeremy ignored his comment and carried on.

"I've considered launching a return to the past but Aelita has no idea how long he was in the lab for. I don't know if the super computer can take us back far enough." The group was very concerned. When people find out their secret they usually get hurt, badly. "Lastly, the boy said 'See you soon' to Aelita, so you can just bet he's going back."

"Not if I have anything to say about it." Ulrich pointed his thumb towards himself.

"That's right, we'll organise a stake-out, right guys?" Odd was excited and imagined himself being in a James Bond film.

"Maybe, but right now we have a chemistry test to burn through." Jeremy and the rest of the group headed back to the building.

"Or in Odd's case, cheat through." Ulrich laughed.

"I do not cheat all the time Ulrich! You're sitting next to me right Jeremy?" Odd put his hand on Jeremy's shoulder. Jeremy didn't answer but instead just grinned.

"Well, I better be heading to maths class. See you guys." Yumi waved to the group as they all waved back. Yumi was one year above them and so they were constantly being separated, something X.A.N.A liked to exploit.

"So how are we going to deal with this guy?" Odd asked them.

"Like you said, we host a stake-out, we find out who it is and we make him tell us when he found the super computer, then we'll know if we can launch a return to the past." Jeremy had the whole thing planned out already.

"And if we can't?" Ulrich pointed out.

"Then we deal with it in some other way." The truth was Jeremy didn't know what they would do in that eventuality.

"You know, all this talk of stake-outs is making me hungry."

**…**

There it was. With his sketchbook and pencil at the ready he once again stood in front of the abandoned factory, only this time he was aware of what was inside. The super computer would be the best drawing he had ever done, something he would cherish. Little did Andrew know that it would become something he would despise.

The factory looked untouched, and this time Andrew was determined that the dust wouldn't touch his clothes. On his way out on the previous day he had found a way into the lab without the elevator, the emergency ladder. Andrew carefully made his way down. He noticed that the dust marks beside his own looked unaltered, although it was difficult to determine. At least they made him feel more secure in believing that this 'Jeremy' guy hadn't visited the place himself since yesterday and found out that Andrew had been there. He hoped that his presence would go unnoticed in the lab; he wanted this amazing place to himself.

Andrew found a spot by the ladder to sit down and began sketching the monitors. He etched away at his pad for nearly an hour before a rough sketch was finally finished. It was too rough for his liking but the extra detail would have to wait until tomorrow, for now he couldn't hold the anticipation in any more. He had to speak with Aelita again.

He sat down in the large chair and pressed a couple of the buttons on its arm. He found the right one, causing the chair to move along the room and into position in front of the monitors. He put the headpiece on and spoke.

"Aelita? Are you there?" He knocked on the monitor wondering if it would do anything. Just like before the screens shot into life and the pink-haired avatar appeared in front of him.

"Jeremy? Did you catch that bo… oh!" Aelita had made a big mistake.

Andrew didn't know what to think. She had warned Jeremy about him being there. She didn't trust him. A computer program didn't trust him. He didn't know if he could even be disappointed with here, after all, she was only computer software.

"You told Jeremy about me didn't you?" Andrew asked sadly.

She didn't answer. She looked at the ground, or whatever she was 'standing on'.

"You didn't have to. I'm not going to break you or anything." Andrew didn't want her to be frightened of him. The whole situation was confusing him to high heaven. Whoever had programmed her had simulated human emotions dead-on.

Aelita felt strange. Occasionally she felt things that Jeremy had described to her as human emotions, but how could that even be possible? It couldn't be and yet she still felt sorry for the boy. Had she been wrong in telling Jeremy about him? She thought about what she had done again and realised that it had to be done, to keep him and everyone else safe. No one can know their secret…

She left the screen. The window she was on closed, leaving Andrew alone in the room. Andrew called out to her and told her that he wasn't mad with her but she could no longer here him. She wasn't hiding; she was warning Jeremy and the others. Andrew pressed various keys in front of him and cycled through the huge amount of software running. He maximised the windows. Return to the past, materialisation, human cell scanner and a file named Code-Earth were all on the screen.

"What the hell are laser arrows?" Andrew couldn't make sense of everything in front of him. He was a bit of a techie but this was all beyond him. As he continued searching, to his despair, he could hear the lift moving down to the lab. Jeremy was already on his way. Andrew abandoned the machine, grabbed his sketchbook and ran. The lift door was forced open by a large array of mechanisms, revealing an empty laboratory.

"Alright, we know you're in here coward!" Odd shouted into the room. Jeremy held his laptop in his hands with Aelita on his screen.

"That's strange, he was right here not five minutes ago!" She told them. It was then that Ulrich noticed the ladder rattling.

"Oh so you want to play hide and seek do you? Well then you shouldn't have challenged the masters." He ran over to the ladder with Yumi and looked up. He was too late; there was no one there to see and the ladder was no longer rattling.

"I'll cut him off, you to go up the ladder!" Odd ran back into the elevator and headed upwards.

"I'll make sure he hasn't messed with the super computer." Jeremy headed to the chair was his laptop in hand.

Andrew cursed as the dust from the vent covered his blue jacket again. Whoever these guys were, they weren't going to give up. He reached the conveyor belts and dusted himself off. He made his way into the main entrance, the exit was in sight, but Odd was already there. Odd scanned the room but couldn't see anyone. A moment of grace, Odd ran in the opposite direction to the exit, expecting Andrew to have emerged from the top of the ladder. With no time to waste, Andrew bombed out of the exit and across the bridge, along the way he looked at his sketch. No one was going to take his new hide out away from him.

"I've got you now!" Odd came round the corner and kicked outwards, leaving Ulrich just seconds to block.

"Hey it's me moron!" Ulrich pushed Odd's foot down as Odd looked embarrassed.

"I can't believe it! He snuck past you?" Yumi kicked a can on the floor.

"Man that guy is fast! He must have been at the top of the ladder before me and the elevator could get up here."

They didn't know what to do. Accepting defeat they headed back into the lab to meet up with Jeremy. He himself didn't have any better news for them.

We've got a problem guys. It looks like this boy has been rummaging around the software on the super computer, and he's managed the bug-up the return to the past and Odd's laser arrows software."

"Oh no! Not my laser arrows!" Odd put his hands on his head.

"Like it or not guys, he's not forgetting about this place."


	4. Chapter 4 - Interrogation

It had been three days since the group chased the intruder from the lab. The team had spent shifts waiting for him to return, but he never did. Jeremy spent most of the time on stakeout, as he was able reverse the damage caused to the super computer at the same time. On closer inspection, Jeremy had realised that the intruder had managed to bug-up far more than just the return to the past.

"So do you think we've managed to scare this guy off?" Odd asked the group as he stuffed his face with a croissant.

The cafeteria was filled with chatting schoolchildren; probably not the best place for secret conversations but it was a struggle to get Odd out of the place.

"I hope so Odd. If he causes anymore errors with the super computer then we are going to have a real problem." Jeremy was still working on de-bugging the mess left from the previous encounter.

"Do you reckon that this could be X.A.N.A's doing?" Ulrich asked while he protected his breakfast from Odd.

"Not likely, Aelita hasn't felt any activated towers on Lyoko."

As the guardian of Lyoko it was Aelita's responsibility to warn them whenever X.A.N.A activated a tower. Through Lyokos towers X.A.N.A was able to access the real world and cause potentially fatal disasters.

"I still reckon it could be one of the new students. Only time will tell I guess." Odd had managed to wrestle Ulrich's croissant from his plate. "Aren't they arriving later on today?"

"Yep, whilst we're in Physics apparently." Jeremy stood up and put on his backpack. "Well I'm going to talk with Aelita until Physics." Odd looked at Jeremy's plate as he left, feeling deeply disappointed that he had eaten his croissant before leaving.

"Does Jeremy look tired to you? I mean more than usual?" Yumi asked them as she taunted Odd with her own uneaten croissant.

"Of course he does, He's always tired. He works on Aelita's materialisation program to the early hours." Ulrich watched Jeremy as he left the cafeteria.

"Aw Nerd Love! Isn't it adorable?" Odd returned to his romantic pose.

Breakfast was over, croissants were eaten, mostly by Odd, and the group (minus Yumi) were in physics class. Mrs Hertz was teaching the class about radiation, reminding the group of the time X.A.N.A took control of the school bus and drove it straight at the Nuclear power plant. If the group hadn't have stopped him it would have resulted in a Nuclear fallout and the deaths of tens of thousands of people; as was the life of a Lyoko Warrior.

At last the headmaster, Mr Delmas, interrupted the class.

"Alright students, I am sure you've heard by now that we are introducing three new students to the school this semester. Please say hello to Linda, Alexander and Andrew."

They were all quite nervous, but not as much as Andrew. He was a shy boy at the best of times without being introduced to another group of total strangers. The class looked ordinary enough, just another room crammed with bored Juveniles, until he spotted one boy with spiked-up blonde hair. It was him! It was the boy who chased him up the elevator back at the factory. Andrew could just bet that Jeremy was in the room as well. God what were the Odds? (Unintentional pun)

The new students all found themselves a seat. Andrew found one as far away from Odd as possible. He was sitting on his own, although the student across from him on the same row was staring at him. Sissi.

"Did you see them? Both Alexander and Andrew have black hair and a blue jacket. It's got to be one of them." Odd whispered into Jeremy's ear.

"We can't assume anything Odd." He whispered back whilst trying not to be spotted.

Still, he could not help but wonder. Could the intruder really be sitting in the room with them? Jeremy turned round and looked at the newcomers. Andrew looked back at Jeremy as he turned away. He knew what he was thinking. Aelita would have told him what he looked like. He scorned himself for wearing the same jacket, but he wasn't to know that they would be there. The short-sighted blonde whispered back and forth with spikey-haired kid and another boy with brown hair. They were planning something, Andrew just knew it.

Sometime during the day those boys were going to confront him, so he would need to stay one step ahead and outsmart them, starting with total ignorance of anything to do with the abandoned factory. From the way they acted in the factory towards his presence, Andrew could tell they didn't want him involved. He would need to stick with the other students for protection. He looked around the room for possible candidates. The girl opposite him was still staring. She smiled and waved at him and Andrew smiled back. She would have to do.

"Look at that. Sissi's waving to Andrew. Looks like you might be off the hook Ulrich." Odd elbowed Ulrich, causing him to answer with an even sharper nudge.

"Shut up Odd." He whispered back.

"Looks like Herb is furious though." Jeremy was right. Herb was frowning and gritting his teeth at the new boy.

"Jeremy Belpois! I know you might think that you are an expert at physics already but unless you want to teach this class yourself then do yourself a favour a pay attention!" Mrs Hertz had nabbed him mid-sentence.

"Yes, sorry Miss." Jeremy and the others were pulled back into the lesson.

"That's what you get for talking about me, four-eyes." Andrew thought.

At that moment Andrew felt something soft land on his desk. It was a scrunched up piece of paper. He opened it whilst half expecting its contents. It read 'meet me in the corridor after class' followed by a heart. He looked up at Sissi who waved to him and then looked at Ulrich, who in turn looked away in disgust.

So this girl was intending to use him in a jealousy tactic. Fair enough. He was going to use her to keep the factory brigade away from him. And so one of Andrew's flaws was re-opened, he was shy and suspected everyone. Being a victim of bullying had made him notoriously crafty. There was not one bully that had harmed him that had not paid for it three times over, and not one knew he was the cause of their despair. Physically or psychologically, everyone paid. He hoped that Kadic would be different, but not because he would change.

All of the students rushed out into the hall after class. Andrew clutched the note and met up with its writer. She was surprisingly tall compared to him and the two boys that accompanied her.

"Umm, hi. I read your note. I'm Andrew."

"Oh I know who you are, the most important thing is you founding out who I am! I'm Sissi Delmas and this is Nicholas and Herb."

Nicholas greeted him with a simple hello and herb didn't say a word. He just glared at him. Andrew hoped that this glaring boy wouldn't be any trouble.

"Sissi Delmas you say? Like the principle?" Andrew asked her. At that point herb walked right up to Andrew and answered for her.

"She's the principles daughter. So you better not try anything." Herb poked Andrew twice in the chest. Andrew used all his strength to hold in the instincts he had developed over the years filled with people like Herb. Little did Herb know that Andrew had broken bones before and caused amnesia afterwards. Something he deeply regretted.

"Just back off Herb! God this guy gets jealous every time I literally talk to another boy. Just ignore him and follow me, I'll show you around." The truth was, although she had affection for Ulrich above everyone else, she was a bit smitten with this new boy…

Andrew secured his backpack onto his arm and turned to look at some of the students he would be learning with for the next few years. He noticed Odd, Ulrich and Jeremy, and Jeremy noticed him. They stared deep into each other's eyes to try and tell what sort of person each was. Andrew sensed seriousness behind Jeremy's stare, but not hatred or anger, more concern than anything. What Jeremy received was more threatening. He could see pain in Andrew's eyes and a brewing rivalry. In that corridor two geniuses stared each other down, one of Maths and Science, and the other of manipulation and tactics.

Andrew broke off and followed Kadic's self-proclaimed beauty queen. Jeremy continued to watch Andrew until he was no longer in sight.

"It's him."

Andrew spent most of the day being shown around by Sissi and he quickly realised how much of a self-loving, conniving bitch she was. Maybe she wasn't the best candidate after all. Besides, Herb already hated his guts and Nicholas seemed to have eaten the last of his own brain cells. Andrew tried to get a bit of information about Jeremy's gang though before he ditched them.

"Who are they?" Andrew nodded towards the group who were sitting on a school bench and laughing.

"What them? Bah! You don't want to know them. There're all dorks, well except Ulrich. They are bad news. Not like us, we know how things work around here." Andrew was getting sick of her constant self-flattery.

"You know Sissi, I'm kind of tired. Would you be able to show me where the dorms are?" Another moment in her presence and he was liable to strangle himself.

"The dorms? But I thought you were a day student?" She was bewildered.

"I know, but it would be nice to familiarise myself with the whole campus." Luckily Sissi wasn't the brightest student by far so Andrew's bluff worked perfectly.

"Meh, why not? They're up the stairs, through that door." Sissi pointed towards the building.

"Thanks. Oh, would you be able to get me a hot chocolate while I look? You know, you must be the most helpful and charming student in this school." Andrew's lie both fooled her into acting just how he wanted and made him taste vomit.

"Oh you are a tease! See you up there in a minute." Andrew made his way to the stairs as Sissi and her group walked towards the vending machines.

At last he was on his own again. He followed the stairs up to the boy's dormitory. Any one of the rooms could be Jeremy's. He decided to check every single one. He didn't quite know why he was doing what he was, but something was drawing him in to find out more about the group. One room had a particularly unpleasant smell similar to sweaty feet, and Andrew could swear that he heard barking coming from the room. He ignored it and carried on searching, but he was not alone for long. He felt an arm on his own and turned to meet whoever it was.

"Hi Andrew! Welcome to Kadic!" It was him, the boy that chased him up the elevator.

"…Hi." Andrew answered nervously. He hadn't expected this. They must have followed him up the stairs.

"I'm Odd, this is Jeremy and that's Ulrich, the not so attractive member of the group!" Odd let out a big grin.

"I'll pretend you didn't say that Odd." Ulrich called out. They seemed decent enough, but Andrew knew the truth of what they got up to. With the boy finally in their 'custody', Odd went ahead.

"Now, this might sound a bit strange, but hear me out. So… Andrew. Haven't found any virtual worlds around here have you?"

"Huh?"

"Okay, when I say Lyoko, you say?"

"You're starting to freak me out now…" They knew, or at least suspected it was him. Andrew just hoped that all the dust had washed off his jacket. Ulrich sensed Odd's overly to the point interrogation and butt in.

"What my friend is trying to ask you is… you haven't found a video game lying around here have you? He's lost it." Andrew wasn't falling for it in the slightest.

"I don't think so…" Andrew played along. Total ignorance, Andrew. Total ignorance.

"It's just it's his favourite game. Lyoko Tower 2000, it's kind of like Grand Theft Auto but with Mega Tanks, I mean panzers. There's a mission where you have to save this Pink-haired girl from an evil computer. Heard of it?"

Jeremy watched Andrew every second they spoke and looked for signs of guilt or panic, but Andrew was notoriously skilled at hiding his emotions. He had to end their questioning and escape, at least, until the cards were in his hand…

"Sorry guys, but I haven't seen your video game Odd. Perhaps you tell me more about it later, maybe in the cafeteria at lunch?" Andrew defused the situation.

Clearly the interrogation wasn't working. Jeremy knew it was him, otherwise why did he stare at him like that earlier in the corridor? Mrs Hertz had made the mistake of saying his name to the class, so Andrew would know him. They needed to tread carefully because if they were wrong then their secret would be out.

"yeah, why don't you meet us in the cafeteria later?" Jeremy ended the conversation and began walking away. Odd and Ulrich shrugged and followed him, not knowing why Jeremy had suddenly changed course.

Andrew could see Sissi and her minions walk past the boys on their way out. He considered running but maybe he could use Sissi further.

"Andrew dear, I'm afraid the machine was out of hot chocolate so… wait. Were you just talking to Jeremy and his friends!?" Sissi was furious.

"Not to worry Sissi. They are nobodies to me…"


	5. Chapter 5 - Change of Heart

The new arrivals were acclimating to their new surroundings and the layout of the campus. The school itself was large enough to get lost in easily without a guide. Lunch had come around a lot sooner than Andrew had anticipated. He hadn't thought much about how he should act around Jeremy's group. Sissi would assume he would sit with her and her, questionable, choice of company, but Andrew would not be sitting with her. This blow would likely push her interests away from him and force her to find someone else to try and make Ulrich jealous with (something that would never work in a million years anyway).

The more Andrew saw Jeremy's group of friends together and the more he saw them laugh and chat, the more confused he grew. The group before him must have been pretending to seem nice, for why would they chase him from the factory if they were not selfish or hateful? Poor misguided Andrew had been blinded by the continuous wave of malicious treatment he had received in past schools. He was yet to learn that not everyone was like that. Something stirred in him as he watched Odd make a walrus impression with two chop-sticks. He laughed. Andrew hadn't laughed for quite some time. This group was drawing a desire out of him, a desire to be liked; but Andrew was still hesitant and resolved to finding out more about Jeremy, his friends and their escapades.

The cafeteria was being crowded with hungry schoolchildren once again and Odd was the first in line. Andrew searched the room for Sissi, determined to make sure she didn't find him before he could speak with Jeremy and the others. She and her stalkers were nowhere in sight so he headed towards the far end of the room, where Jeremy and his friends were sitting (Odd had just reached the table with his tray).

"I don't know Jeremy, are you sure that it's him? He didn't much as flinch when Odd mentioned Lyoko." Neither Ulrich, nor the others were sure if Andrew was the intruder anymore.

"Trust me guys, we've got him. You all saw the way he looked at us in the hallway." Jeremy was positive that it was him; he just needed to convince his friends.

"Well, you keep telling us about that but from what I remember he was just looking at everyone behind him, you know, seeing everyone's faces for the first time. Starting in a new school is daunting for anyone, except for me of course as I'm a natural with people." Odd grinned again.

"Oh I remember your first day Odd; you still had hair stretching down to your butt!" Ulrich and the others laughed.

"You make fun of that and the amount of hair gel I use to keep it up Lyoko style, make up your mind!" Odd pointed at him with his yoghurt spoon.

"I'm glad that you guys can still find jokes out of this but may I remind you that someone in this school knows our secret, has bugged up the super computer and pretends that he doesn't know a thing about the lab!" Jeremy was raising his voice.

"Take it easy Jeremy. Anyway they do have a point. One guy with black hair and a blue jacket finds the lab and you assume it's one of the first people you see that fits the description just because of the way he looks at you? You have to admit it's a very long shot to say the least." Yumi tried to calm him down and help him to see some sense at the same time.

"You guys just don't get it. All of us, not to mention Aelita are in terrible danger as long as this boy knows about the factory. He could have damaged Lyoko, or even worse caused harm to Aelita with his snooping."

"Shush, Andrew at twelve o'clock." Odd ended the conversation before Andrew could hear them.

"Umm, do you mind if I sit with you? Sissi invited me to sit with her but to be honest she is a bit of a sociopath when it comes to being friendly." Andrew asked them with a lonely face.

The group all looked at each other, not one of them knew what to say. Jeremy outright frowned at them all and didn't say a word. As usual, it was up to the 'natural'.

"Pull up a chair!" Odd invited him onto the table.

Andrew smiled and grabbed the chair next to Odd. He may have been the one who chased him in the factory but at least he had greeted him better than anyone so far.

"So where are you from Andrew?" Yumi tried to be polite. All of them besides Jeremy didn't know whether to think of this person as a threat or not and so they chatted with him for the sake of not alienating him if he was innocent.

"I'm originally from England but my family has travelled all over the world so I've had to learn quite a few different languages. My dad is a bit of a star so his job takes us all over the place."

Odd's face immediately shot into an excited grin.

"You mean…. He's an actor!?" Odd might just have found Milly and Tamia's huge scoop for the Kadic News.

"Well yeah, but he's not been in anything major, until now anyway. That's why we've moved to France, so that he can star in… I can't really say yet." Film studios are often stern on secrecy.

"Yes! That's just brilliant! Hey, do you mind doing an interview for the two girls who make the school newspaper? I'll make it up to you in hot chocolate!" Odd was literally praying to him.

The sudden attention he was receiving took him by surprise. No one had ever really been interested in his father's work, it was nice…

"Sure, why not?! But you have to promise me that you'll deliver that hot chocolate." Andrew was enjoying socialising with Jeremy's group.

"I promise!" Odd put one hand on his heart and the other in the air. Milly and Tamia had already been on Odd's back about the interview and this would at last free him.

"You know Odd, you did all this just to get a week's worth of hot chocolate, and now you've lost it!" Ulrich gloated. Odd realised what he had done and looked close to tears.

"Don't worry; I'll do it for 'free'." Andrew put his hand on Odd's shoulder.

"You mean it!" He scared Andrew a bit with his sudden reaction.

"Yeah, you were nice enough to let me eat with you so it's the least I could do!" Andrew pulled an Odd-like grin. The group all laughed except Jeremy.

"Is that what we are doing?" Jeremy spoke out whilst looking out the window with his arms crossed.

The whole group was stunned. Was Jeremy really expressing his hatred for Andrew so obviously?

"What's wrong with specs here?" Andrew question was enough for him. Jeremy violently pushed his chair away and walked off.

"That's it! If you want me I'll be you know where… all of you."

Andrew watched the blonde boy storm out of the building with his backpack on. Everyone was being nice to him except for Jeremy, so to Andrew that could only mean one thing. They didn't know who he was, but Jeremy did, in which case they didn't believe him. Andrew's gambit had paid off. Only one step remained, but now it would be with a different intention.

"Where's he off too?" Andrew asked the group.

"Probably off to sulk somewhere. He's been a bit miserably recently because… he got a B+ in his Chemistry test!" Odd made up a lie on the spot.

"But that's good." Andrew pointed out to him.

"Not for Jeremy. Straight A's are his thing." Yumi said whilst taking a sip from her cup.

They spoke for a while as they all finished their lunch. They all felt sorry for Jeremy but they honestly could not see Andrew as someone who had the secret Jeremy was accusing him of. They learnt of how he was usually shy and used to be bullied severely in his past. They laughed and they joked and Andrew savoured every moment of it. This is how he had always wanted to feel. They were still chatting away as they left the cafeteria. From a dorm window above they were being watched. With his phone held up to the window and with a view clicks of the zoom button he had a decent enough photograph of Andrew.

"When Aelita sees this and confirms him as the intruder, then they will see what he really is…"


	6. Chapter 6 - Confrontation

Jeremy held the phone up to the computer monitor.

"Is this who you saw Aelita?" He waited with anticipation for her answer.

She took a good look at it. The image wasn't very clear as it was without having to look at it through and monitor whilst in a virtual world.

"That's him Jeremy. He's wearing the same clothes and looks exactly like him."

"Yes!" Jeremy cheered and punched the air.

"Is there a bug in your room Jeremy?" Jeremy ignored her and immediately started coming up with a plan.

He needed a way of trapping Andrew so that he wouldn't be able to deny his knowledge of the factory. Afterwards, he had no idea what to do. The return to the past was broken for the time being and even if it wasn't it may have been too late to erase Andrew's memory of the lab.

"Thanks for your help Aelita. I'll make sure that that boy doesn't put us, or you in danger again." He made off with his backpack to tell the others.

"Wait Jeremy! What are you going to do?" Aelita was becoming more and more worried about what Jeremy was hiding.

Ever since he had taken a closer look at the super computer's bugged-up software he had been acting strangely. He was being more secretive and angry all of a sudden. There was little more she could do so she retreated from Jeremy's monitor back into the lonely world she inhabited.

Jeremy headed straight for the stairs. He already had a way of getting rid of Andrew so he could tell the gang the truth. Jeremy was a genius, but he may have just met his match in the planning department. Andrew may have been talking and laughing with Jeremy's friends, but he knew full well what Jeremy was doing. He had seen his silhouette at the window holding the camera phone and could now see Jeremy running down the stairs towards them. Time for a quick escape.

"Oh darn! I've left my phone in the cafeteria. You go on and I'll meet you in a minute. I hope it hasn't been taken." Andrew headed off towards the cafeteria, all the time holding his phone in his pocket.

When the group were opening the door to the dormitory building Andrew made a quick dash around the side of the campus. The dormitory was accessible from both sides but getting to the other would take him longer than the group, even at his sprinting pace. But Andrew had timed it perfectly. Little did Jeremy know that while telling his friends about who Andrew was, he was acting as a distraction, leaving all of their rooms unguarded.

Most of the students were either still in the cafeteria or enjoying the sunny weather, giving Andrew ample time to search. Whatever was going on with the factory, it was more than Andrew knew. The software that Andrew had searched through on the super computer brought with it so many questions. It wasn't just a super computer; they were all hiding something darker. He opened the door to Odd and Ulrich's room, the smell of sweat hitting his nostrils like a fist once again. He didn't bother looking in Jeremy's room; he was an intelligent boy so Andrew counted on him not leaving a trace of evidence lying around about his double life. Odd and Ulrich however were not so clever.

He looked through all of the draws in a hurry. His lie about going to the cafeteria would bide him some time but not a lot. The right side of the room was a complete mess, neither the stuff outside the draws and cupboards or in was organised in anyway. The plan nearly backfired completely when he found something he did not expect. The lower draw of Odd's wardrobe had his sniffly friend Kiwi sleeping peacefully in it. If the dog started barking now then Andrew's plan would be blown before he could finish. His heart pounded against his rib cage as he delicately closed the draw as not to wake the puppy. He was in luck; the mutt didn't make a sound.

Nothing of use on Odd's side, he would have to count on Ulrich then. He searched through his wardrobe and found exactly what he was looking for, Ulrich Stern's diary. He read it on the spot from start to finish. He was a fast reader and so he finished the book in less than five minutes, not that Ulrich had written in much detail, or with much spelling or grammatical clarity for that matter. Everything was clear to him at last. Those students out there were currently the most important human beings on the planet. Without them, the entire world was doomed to a virtual being's domination, a being known as X.A.N.A, with the power to control objects and elements in the real world through Lyoko. Andrew realised what he had gotten himself in for, and for a moment he was scared to the point of being sick.

He held his hand over his mouth and calmed down. Anyone else would have been excited about the books contents, but Andrew was remorselessly pragmatic. If the Lyoko Warriors ever failed to stop X.A.N.A, the entire human race could die. Andrew knew what he had to do. He knew their secret and that put him on the firing line with them. He put the diary back and ran out of the building.

"She confirmed it? Andrew really is the intruder!?" Yumi asked him opened-mouthed.

"As I've been trying to tell you all, Andrew was the one who found his way into the factory and discovered Aelita! He's been playing us for fools all along. That's why he sat with us at lunch and that's why… where is he?" Jeremy had concentrated so much on telling them that he hadn't noticed Andrew's absence.

"He left his phone in the cafeteria so he's gone to pick it up." Odd answered.

"Great! Then we've got him. I'm going to head to the factory to try and fix the mess he's made, if X.A.N.A attacks then we will need everything back up and running. In the meantime you guys keep an eye on Andrew and if you can, get him up to the dorms and force a confession out of him. And Odd, don't try and bribe him with hot chocolate." Jeremy ran off into the school park to take the sewer path to the factory.

"Yes sir!" Odd and Ulrich saluted him as he ran off.

"Well this should be interesting." Yumi said before smirking.

Through the man-hole, along the sewer on his scooter and up the ladder Jeremy went. He had made it to the bridge heading to the factory entrance when the others realised that they had been duped. No Andrew in the cafeteria, the dorms or the grounds.

"Oh no, I can't believe he's given us the slip!" Odd stomped on the floor in frustration.

"I'll call Jeremy." Yumi already had the device to her ear. Jeremy's phone rang but there was no answer. The group started to panic, what the hell had Andrew done!?

The elevator headed down to the control room. With a loud clang the pulleys stopped the elevator from going any further and various mechanisms pulled opened the doors. The super computer's controls were in sight and the boy headed for the chair. He put on the ear piece and spoke.

"Aelita, are you there?"

The virtual girl appeared on the monitor.

"Jeremy is that you?" She waited nervously for an answer.

"Yes, it's me. Listen, the others know about Andrew, the boy who found you, and are going to force a confession out of him. Once the return to the past is fixed I will see if we can erase his memory." Jeremy reassured her. He knew she was worried from the way she had acted when they had spoken for the last couple of days.

"Look, Aelita, I'm sorry if I've acted a bit strange recently ever since I looked at the bugged-up programs. I want you to know it's because I worry about you. I haven't told the others what I discovered; I haven't told them what Andrew is really like." Jeremy could hear clapping behind him.

"You are a clever boy Jeremy." Andrew was standing behind him. He had been waiting for him since his disappearing act.

"Andrew!? How did you get to the factory from the academy!?" Jeremy stood up from the chair and faced him down.

"I know about your secret entrance in the park, and I know about what you and your group do on Lyoko."

Jeremy stared at him, with panic in his eyes. Andrew stared back but this time his gaze was not so hateful.

"You're lucky I haven't told the others about what you really did that day we found you in the lab, about the person you really are! You looked through the programs on the super computer and you deliberately damaged them!"

Andrew just stared at him. He felt something strange, it felt almost like guilt.

"You're not the only person in this town who knows how to use computers Belpois. I saw what the super computer could do. I saw how it could erase my memory of this amazing place, of Aelita and of the one time I could find true, secure peace away from the rest of the world! You have no idea what it's like to be despised your whole life because of who you are! To be bullied, ridiculed and left bloodied on a curb for strangers to pick you up! That's when I found out how cruel the human race is and that the only place I was safe was in my mind or on a computer."

Aelita could hear the whole conversation from the monitor.

"I know what it's like to be bullied! I mean look at me! I'm a blonde four-eyed nerd! But I didn't let that turn me into a monster like you have. You've turned into one of the people you hate." Jeremy's words cut through him.

For the first time Andrew looked back at everything he had done since the bullying started. He thought back to the day they chased him from the lab. Jeremy was right; he had turned into a monster.

"I found the message you coded into the return to the past program. 'Try erasing my memory now.'" They had stopped shouting. Jeremy could see that what he had said was affecting him. He didn't realise how much until tears starting streaming down his face.

"You put Aelita and all of us in danger for your own gain."

Andrew didn't speak for a while. He had supressed his emotions for so long that everything was flooding out. He felt sick.

"…. I'm sorry." Andrew managed an apology.

Jeremy himself was starting to feel a bit guilty now. What would it look like if the rest of the gang came in now? He decided to comfort Andrew.

"Why did you wait for me here?" Jeremy put his hand on Andrew's shoulder.

"Because I want to be like you. You have friends, brains and this place. I've never known friendship before but talking to your friends in the lunchroom was everything I wanted. And I know about X.A.N.A and what you do. I guess I feel like I have a responsibility to it now."

Jeremy was a bit taken back. Was he really saying he wanted to join them? At least that would remove him as a threat to their secret.

"So is that why you spoke to us in the lunchroom, because you wanted to be one of us?" Andrew's motive seemed fair enough, although his way of going about it was disgusting.

"Well to be honest I was originally going to get you alone here and rip your head off or something, but that all changed when I met your friends." Jeremy took his hand of Andrew's shoulder.

"Umm… thanks for not ripping my head of?" They laughed and Andrew wiped away a tear.

"I suppose we better get back to the academy and tell the others. But Andrew, they know about you now and don't be surprise if we are all reluctant to let you in the group. After all, you have caused a hell of a mess."

Andrew looked at the screens. Aelita was looking back at them; she gave Andrew a welcoming smile to show she wasn't angry, if she even could be.

"I'll help you fix it if you want. I know what I did to the programs so fixing it should go much faster." Andrew smiled at him.

Jeremy felt reluctant letting him touch it again, but he had little choice.

"Promise me you will." He said sternly.

"I promise. I'll even buy you a hot chocolate." Jeremy laughed under his breath.

They headed to the elevator and Jeremy showed him the correct code. At last he wouldn't have to take the ladder or get covered in dust.

"Oh and Jeremy… Lyoko Tower 2000?" Andrew asked him.

"Yeah they're pretty stupid sometimes." He pressed the button and the elevator took them up.

Aelita sat back down in her tower and felt relieved, until she felt a pulsation course through the tower. X.A.N.A had awoken…


	7. Chapter 7 - XANA's Creativity

The group ran as fast as they could to get across the bridge. Jeremy wasn't answering his phone and they feared the worst. They had no idea what this new boy was capable of. If he was willing to keep his secret so hidden from them then he must have been planning something. They reached the elevator, but it was already moving towards them. They got ready for a fight, but as the doors opened they were greeted by both Andrew and Jeremy.

"Hey guys." Jeremy gave them a simple greeting.

"You better explain yourself right now Andrew!" Odd was right up in the boy's face.

"I, ummm…" Andrew didn't know what to say.

"It's alright guys, we've sorted it out." Jeremy moved Odd away.

"What do you mean sorted it out? You of all people wanted to find this guy and now you look fine about it." Ulrich said, replacing Odd's position in Andrew's face.

"Look he's explained everything. You heard for yourself in the cafeteria about the crummy past he's had. When we chased him out of the lab he thought we were going to hurt him. The stuff that's happened to him has messed with his head."

Hearing what Jeremy was saying really made Andrew feel like a shattered freak.

"He's sorry that he bugged-up the super computer, and about the trouble he's caused us. He's even offered to help me fix the programs." Everything was happened too fast for the group. Jeremy hated his guts earlier on and now they were acting like buddies.

"But... what about our secret?" Yumi asked feeling concerned.

Jeremy nodded to Andrew. It was his queue.

"The truth is I know about Lyoko and what you guys do to stop X.A.N.A. Because of that, I want to help." The group minus Jeremy were wide-eyed. This boy was asking to be part of the group.

"You snuck into the lab and kept it a secret from us, why should we trust you?" Ulrich's arms were crossed and Odd was still frowning at him.

"Jeremy said you would have your doubts. I don't expect you all to decide now. Talk it over together tonight and then decide. If you choose not to let me in, then I still won't tell anyone. Honest." Andrew started walking away from them across the bridge.

"For now we should get back to the school before someone misses us." He was right, lunch was almost over and they had classes to go to and Andrew wanted to have one last look around the place before he went home for the afternoon and got ready for his proper, full day at Kadic in the morning.

Odd and Ulrich looked at each other and shrugged.

"I suppose we should start thinking about it." Yumi spoke.

They followed Andrew towards the town, all except Jeremy who stood still for a moment and watched him walk away. He had covered for him even though he had almost destroyed many of their programs, and Jeremy's head as a matter of fact. Could he really trust this emotionally unstable boy?

"You daydreaming back there? If Jim catches us late for class again he'll have us all listening to his stories of how responsible he was when he was our age compared to us!" Odd imitated Jim's voice.

"Actually I think he'd rather not talk about it." Ulrich corrected him as he walked along with his hands in his pockets.

The rest of the school day went smoothly for the group, although one person was alone and panicking. Jeremy was not answering her. She appeared on the screen in the lab.

"Jeremy! Please say you're there! Jeremy!" No answer came from the lab.

Aelita tried his laptop and saw a familiar sight, albeit from a different angle. Jeremy had left it next to the controls in the factory. There was only one place left.

Jeremy's room was a mess with his text books either all over the desk or on the floor. His bed was unmade and his clothes were hanging out of the wardrobe. For a genius he could be a bit of a slob, either that or he was just easily distracted with his double life. A complete mess it was, but also void of life. There was no one to answer her. She was sure that Jeremy and the others had to be on their way back to the academy, but would they be in time before X.A.N.A began his attack?

The new students had left early, the day having been just a taster of the campus and one of the lessons. Andrew rested on his bed and stared at the sketch he had begun in the lab a few days prior. It featured the lab chair and monitors, as well as the hemisphere-shaped core in the centre of the room. He also looked at the sketch of Aelita. He hoped that the group would accept him just so that he could finish them. His room was full of artwork of different types. He had drawings and digital art up on blue walls, and sculptures of robots and other creatures on his desk all made from scrap.

"Why would they accept me? All I've done is caused them problems." He threw his sketch pad onto the floor.

Meanwhile in Odd and Ulrich's room back in the dormitory, they were discussing just that.

"So you're saying that he kept it all a secret just because he wanted to join us?" Yumi confirmed what Jeremy was saying.

"He was worried what we would do if we found out, especially after we chased him out of the factory."

The group looked over at Odd.

"Why did you go and call him a coward?" Ulrich referred back to the chase.

"Hey I was in the moment, catching the bad guys and all that!" Odd performed some karate moves in front of them.

"You really need the nurse to screw your head on properly Odd." Ulrich grinned.

"Oh okay, is that before or after I've finished playing Lyoko Tower 2000?" Odd grinned back.

"I had to say something to fix the mess you were making!"

The duo reminded Jeremy of his laptop.

"Damn it! I've gone and left my laptop by the super computer! I better go check on Aelita." He put his hand on the door knob.

"Before you do that Einstein, I think I've found the perfect way to vote for Andrew being in our group. Everyone grab a slip of paper, write Y for yes or N for no, scrunch it up and put in this sock." Odd picked a sock up off of his bed.

"Not if it's one of yours Odd! We don't want our votes dissolving. Besides, when did you learn to spell?" Ulrich teased him further. Odd began to sulk.

"We'll use one of mine." Ulrich grabbed his from the drawer.

Jeremy pulled an A4 pad out of his backpack and ripped off four pieces for the group.

"If even one of these comes out black-balled, we don't let him in the group." Jeremy told them.

"Agreed."

Each taking turns to use Jeremy's pen they wrote their results down on their slip of paper and scrunched them up into the sock.

"Actually I'm still not convinced that this isn't one of Odd's socks." Yumi teased.

"See Ulrich! I'm not the only one with an affliction."

Ulrich was about to pull out the results when Jeremy opened the door.

"I will be right back guys." He closed the door behind him.

"Him and the princess of Lyoko. Why doesn't he just go and marry his computer already." Odd asked them.

Andrew was still on his bed, adding colour to his sketch of Aelita. It wasn't until he actually got around to colouring her hair that he realised that he didn't have any pink colouring pencils. Although she had given up drawing years ago Andrew thought his sister might have one lying around somewhere in the pit that was her bedroom. He left his work behind and went to his sister's room, but his room now had a new occupant.

Andrew's laptop was switched on and playing music from the Subsonics. Suddenly the music began to stutter and crackle. The blue screen of death appeared on the monitor as the entire device sparked. A ghostly, black smoke poured out of the power outlet in the wall and flowed into the room. Through some manner of power the smoke was pulled together into a wraith-like figure. It searched the room with malicious intent. It looked to the sketches on the bed and Andrew's creativity over the walls and on the desk. It was the recycled sculptures that caught its attention. No longer would they serve as pieces of art for Andrew, now they served X.A.N.A and the new order.

"So what did you vote? For or against?" Odd was curious as to what the rest of the group would decide.

"I'm not telling you till Jeremy gets back." Ulrich answered, pulling the sock away from Odd's grubby hands.

Behind them the door swung open as a distressed Jeremy entered.

"X.A.N.A's woken up! Aelita's been trying to tell us pretty much since we left the factory." The shock Jeremy's sudden entry had caused Odd to fall back onto his bed.

"No sweat Einstein. We head to the factory and stop him as we always do." Ulrich attempted to calm him.

"But Aelita's been trying to tell us for over an hour and a half. X.A.N.A's had plenty of time to find something to impale, electrocute and throw us around with, so where is he?"

The group thought about what he could be up to.

"Who would he target if not us?" Yumi asked.

"Oh crap, Andrew!" Ulrich suddenly remembered.

"Damn! Alright, I'll head to the factory and one of you can head to Andrew's house and warn him." Jeremy donned his heroic personality once again, as did the others.

"Ok, I'll go get him." Yumi volunteered. "He said he lives just a few streets from my house so I'll be able to get there the quickest." Yumi also worried about her own family. X.A.N.A had targeted them in the past as well so he knew full well where she lived. Nothing was stopping X.A.N.A from going after them once he'd dealt with Andrew.

The group headed out of the door, narrowly missing Sissi and her gang of obsessed stalkers and leaving the sock with their votes behind.

Andrew had returned to his room to meet the shock of his life. His sculptors had left their resting place on his table and were now looking back at him, each with a red eye symbol flashing in their LED eyes. Andrew recognised it from the lab.

"X.A.N.A!"

The sculptors were cloaked in electrical waves that altered them by the minute. As they were, the sculptors wouldn't be useful to X.A.N.A, but being a maniacal, super advanced A.I has its advantages. Using his power X.A.N.A altered the molecular shape of the sculptors as he pulled Andrew's furniture apart with electrical whips. The sculptors grew larger and larger as the furniture joined with them.

Andrew took this as his invitation to book it. He sprinted straight through the living room in the empty house. He jumped over the coffee table, knocking over his hot chocolate in the process. Now too big to fit out the door, the three sculptors made their own exit. With a loud bang the door frame was torn to splinters. The wood and plaster was not on the floor for long however, as X.A.N.A took it upon himself to absorb everything he could into his new monstrosities. Andrew frantically searched for his keys in his jacket pocket. He put it on and jammed the key in to the door, almost snapping it.

He was in the front garden but his artwork was in pursuit. He knew exactly where to go; only the factory would keep him safe as X.A.N.A wouldn't dare attack himself. The factory was about ten minutes away at a running pace and with the amount of stuff in the street; it wouldn't be long before he had three giants after him.

"Why did I take up art as a hobby!?" He screamed down the street.

What was the front of Andrew's house was swiftly obliterated as the three hulks hunted their prey. Andrew was already halfway down the street and they were slow in their new size, but far stronger. With no hesitation the fattest one picked up the neighbours Mazda with its claw shaped hands and sent it after the boy. Turning round just in time, Andrew saw the automobile heading straight at him. With a jolt he dived sideways, but the throw was too accurate. The two car alarms roared into life as metal was bent and glass shattered. The car rested hanging on a parked Ford Focus. The car had missed him, but Andrew was now trapped under the wreck.

With their foe down, X.A. hunters stomped through the street to finish him. Andrew heard screams through the buzzing in his ears. Others had left their homes to find the source of the chaos. Mass panic began to spread through the street as they saw X.A.N.A's creativity. Andrew tasted blood running into his mouth down from his forehead. He tried to move, but he felt disoriented, every direction looked the same and he had no idea where X.A.N.A was coming from. He thought about the factory, Jeremy's gang, Aelita, and everything he had ever done to the bullies that had tormented him throughout his life. He had made every one of them pay, and that is when it hit Andrew that that is what X.A.N.A was now. He may be like no other before him, but he was another bully, and he would pay.

Andrew groaned as he dragged himself slowly from under the car. He cut his hand on a shard of glass but that was the least of his worries. Every movement loosened the car above him further from its resting place on the Ford Focus. On top of that, X.A.N.A's art golems had reached him and were ready to crush him. The fattest lifted up its fist, rubbish falling from it as it swung, and went straight down on the Mazda. With no option, Andrew rolled to the left as the wreck was crushed downwards. He was bloodied all over by the glass and could hardly pick himself up. He needed some sort of miracle to survive. Luckily, one of the town's miracles turned up just in time, and with a large tree branch.

The large sculptor lost its balanced and fell backwards as the tree branch impaled its head like a javelin. Tarmac was thrown into the air as the enormous bulk broke.

"Yumi!" Andrew cried out both with relief and with a desire for help.

"And I thought Jim's Javelin lessons were useless." She told him.

She saw the extent of the mess Andrew was in. She wouldn't be able to carry him to the factory and hold off the remaining two golems.

"I think we're gonna needs some help." Andrew's voice was strained.

Andrew looked at the wreck that once was the neighbour's car and saw the oil leaking onto the road just before the explosion. The street was engulfed in a petrol-fuelled fireball, sending the two students flying onto their backs. X.A.N.A's servants were blown to pieces, flaming shards of plastic and metal ripping through various windows and cars. Yumi and Andrew covered their heads as the chaos tore through the street.

"Aelita, we're here and we are ready to go. How's it looking on your end?" Jeremy was in his place in the chair, ready to send his friends into X.A.N.A's virtual hell hole.

"The tower is just ahead but it's guarded by blocks." Aelita hid behind a boulder after having scouted the area.

"I'm sending Odd and Ulrich, just hold on there until they arrive."

Down below the control, Kadic's two pranksters entered the scanners. The huge coffin-like devices would alter their body's atoms into virtual form and send the, into Lyoko.

"Ready Dr shrink." Odd spoke into the room knowing Jeremy could here through his ear piece.

Jeremy typed in various codes into the computer with record speed. He had worked on the device for over a year and had become adept at its intricacies.

"Transfer, Odd. Transfer, Ulrich." Jeremy spoke out as he prepared them for virtualisation. The scanners fired up, sending gusts of air through themselves and activating their anti-gravity generators.

"Scanning, Odd. Scanning, Ulrich." Jeremy was nearly ready.

The boys span round in the scanners as their bodies slowly dissipated.

"Virtualisation!" Jeremy hit the final key and sent the Lyoko Warriors on their mission.


	8. Chapter 8 - One of the Gang

Houses were ablaze in the charred street. Some residents fled for their lives whilst others called the emergency services. X.A.N.A's monsters were in pieces, but he was not one to let a mishap like this slow him down. The fireball had narrowly missed the two students who were still lying on the ground, although they still had burns from the intense heat. Yumi pulled herself to her feet, but Andrew was too weak to move. She would have no choice but to drag him if need be. She grabbed his arm and put it over her shoulder, he was still conscious but unable to support his own weight. She hobbled towards the factory across town, all the while helping the poor boy to walk. They left the wreck behind them, just as an arm broke its way through the mess. X.A.N.A wasn't finished.

The mountain region on Lyoko was once again about to become a battlefield. The mountains floated soothingly over the virtual sea as X.A.N.A mobilised his forces. Just as the gang could virtualise themselves onto Lyoko, X.A.N.A was able to create his own monsters to protect his towers, all armed with lasers that could de-virtualise the group with enough shots. Aelita peeped over the boulder, three Blocks guarded the Tower and she had no weapons of her own. Not to mention the fact that she would be permanently deleted if she lost all of her life points. There was no option but to wait for her knights in shining pixels.

Unfortunately for her, one block could just make out a spot of pink hair popping up from behind the boulder and headed straight for her. She ran for her life in the opposite direction.

"Jeremy, they've spotted me!" She called out for some sort of help.

"Keep calm Aelita, Odd and Ulrich will be with you soon."

Not far from the tower, the two boys were brought into the world, their bodies rapidly turning from simple lines into fully fledged warriors.

"Well you've managed to fix the scanners at least. Please tell me you've got my laser arrows back up and running." Odd held out his arm and shot a single dart from his wrist, narrowly missing Ulrich only because he was able to dodge in time.

"Do you mind not aiming that at me Odd!" Ulrich retrieved his Katana from his belt in case he tried it again.

Although Ulrich had been virtualised by lyoko into a samurai, Odd was clad in a cat suit, something that confused the entire group since day one. One, he was a dog person and two, he hated cats. Still, it gave him superior climbing skills.

"Stop testing your gear you two and go help Aelita, she's being chased by blocks. She's north north-east from your position and so is the tower." Jeremy was often very snappy when the group didn't do well, that was just his way when Aelita was in danger.

"No sweat genius!" Odd saluted to the sky and they were off.

"In the mean time I better check on Yumi." Jeremy brought up the groups phone numbers on the monitor and found Yumi's.

Her phone rang out with 'Planet Net' by the Subsonics. She desperately tried to answer it but Andrew still couldn't walk on his own.

"Jeremy I've got him, but he's in bad shape. X.A.N.A's possessed a bunch of rubbish monsters and has literally just blown the street up."

"Is everyone all right? You know very well that if someone dies then a trip to the past is not going to fix it."

She panicked for a second, she didn't check to see if anyone else was hurt, but at least the street was mostly empty when the fuel ignited.

"The explosion didn't hit any of the houses seriously, although a couple did catch fire but they weren't too big."

Andrew groaned in pain next to her.

"Alright, just get back here as fast as possible."

She hung up. They could see the bridge to the factory in the distance.

"Nearly there." She reassured the boy.

Nothing was going any better on Lyoko. Odd and Ulrich were being pursued by a mega tank and Aelita was unable to shake off the block. Using its crab like legs the block spring boarded itself across the chasm below to reach Aelita's platform. With the virtual girl in sight, it opened fire, spinning its body round to activate its lasers on each side. She grimaced as the lasers flew past her and she ducked as one went over her head. She thought she was clear until another hit home on her leg. The blast sent a shock through her body and she tumbled to the ground.

"Aelita! Watch out!" Jeremy yelled over his microphone.

The block's humorous, small legs dragged it ever closer to the fallen girl. Odd and Ulrich could see her at last in the distance, but there was still the matter of the mega tank behind them, rolling along like a huge bowling ball.

"You go help Aelita; I'll deal with Miranda here!" Odd stopped running and aimed at the monster.

"You're seriously still giving them names?" Ulrich asked and then laughed.

"I like to give them a bit of dignity before I blow them to pieces!"

Ulrich was the fastest so it was only logical what they were doing.

"Super sprint!" Ulrich activated his power and was sent rocketing along the platform towards the pink damsel in distress.

"Okay Miranda, how are going about this then?" Odd joked as he aimed his laser arrows at the centre of the rolling bulk.

With him in sight, the mega tank opened, splitting in half and revealing its eye of X.A.N.A inside along with the various veins and wires that held it together. It drew power to its laser as Odd popped off a couple of shots. The tank was ready and sent a disc-shaped shockwave towards him, upwards and behind itself. One shot is all it took from a mega tank to de-virtualise you, so Odd was careful not to risk another laser arrow shot. Both his arrows missed the monster, although one did catch the side of one of its veins, reducing its life points. That of course wasn't good enough for Odd. The eye of X.A.N.A on every monster was a one shot kill if hit, so that was the groups constant target.

Further along the Mountain Sector, Aelita crawled along the floor to pull herself to her feet, but the block was already peering down on her. Its lasers were nearly ready to finish her, until a certain samurai impaled the thing with his blade. Ulrich was on the side of the block, pulling with all his might to release his Katana before the monster exploded. With one final yank he was sent sideways, the blocks body spinning widely as a motor noise almost deafened the girl taking shelter below it. With a beam of light the block broke apart into fragments which dissipated and were deleted.

"Sorry we couldn't be here sooner, but Odd's fooling around with Miranda over there." Ulrich held his hand out to help her.

Miranda was still firing out shock waves to end Odd's part in the fight. He made cartwheels across the platform as the tank span on the spot. With one final jump he fired upside down towards Miranda.

"Laser arrow!" Odd yelled as two more darts were propelled away from him. Again he missed the darn thing. He landed on his feet and cursed.

"What is with me today?" He kicked a virtual pebble by his feet.

Miranda had no mercy. With him distracted it sent out one last pulse and de-virtualised the frustrated boy. The blast sent him flying off the platform as his body broke away into a blue net. Back inside the factory a scanner roared into life as Odd was returned to the real world. The doors opened as a disoriented Odd stumbled out. When his senses returned to him he punched the side of the scanner.

"What, come on? Not even one monster! Miranda I hate you!"

It was up to Ulrich. The pursuing block was gone but now they had other issues. Aelita heard a familiar buzzing above their heads.

"Two swarms of Hornets just behind you!" Jeremy kept visual over the group.

The flying insects were huge, and were heading straight towards them. They let off a few laser shots from their tails as the virtual duo headed to the Tower.

"Get back to the tower while I hold them off." Ulrich readied his sword.

"But what about the blocks?" She was right, two blocks still stood guard.

"I'll be there, just let me clip these fellas wings first." He winked at her.

Ulrich sprung into the air and sliced straight through one. The others dispersed and chased him down, leaving Aelita free to find the tower again.

"Don't be too long Ulrich, if she's hit a few more times you know what will happen!" Jeremy spoke through gritting teeth.

"Chill, Einstein."

The buzzing monsters continuously fired at him, but he was too quick. They packed together to pop off more accurate shots, but Ulrich was still one step ahead. He stopped just in front of them.

"Triangulate!" With a bright flash Ulrich was split into three copies of himself surrounding the hornets in a triangle.

He ran at break-neck speeds between the triangles corners, leaving them knowing not which one was real. One hornet fired, but only hit a copy. Before they could have any more chances, Ulrich broke off and sprinted between them, slicing three in half. Only two were left to occupy him and so he took this as a chance to find Aelita.

Aelita was back at her boulder, but this time the blocks didn't bother to follow her. X.A.N.A had been fooled too many times by their distractions and this time would be different. They stood their ground outside the tower leaving Aelita no chance to get inside.

"Hurry Ulrich." She prayed to herself.

He was nearly there too, until the hornets were given a lucky shot. Ulrich was broken out of his super sprint and sent rolling across the virtual mountain scape. He quickly picked himself up and firmly grasped his blade.

"Alright you asked for this!" Ulrich jumped up again and threw his katana point-first into one hornet. The beast flew backwards from the impact and found itself impaled against the second.

"Yes!" Ulrich was free to destroy the blocks.

"Ulrich!" Aelita called out to him.

He thought she was telling him where she was, but instead she was pointing. He looked in the direction and saw a familiar sight. Miranda was back and ready to de-virtualise another one of them. Jeremy saw Ulrich's life points drop to zero and heard the scanner activate below.

"Aelita, hide!" He panicked. Odd ran to the lift.

"I'll go and find Yumi, we can't leave Aelita alone." He pressed the button and was off.

"Please hurry!" Jeremy shouted back to him.

Ulrich reached the lab via the ladder and met up with Jeremy.

"I'm sorry Jeremy; I couldn't do anything in time."

Jeremy was calling Yumi again. She was at last able to answer him now that Andrew had gained the strength to hobble on his own.

"We're just outside the factory, but we have another problem. Looks like X.A.N.A wants to share his love of recycling with us."

A surviving sculptor was about to cross the bridge. This one was three times the size of the others, having consumed them and the destroyed cars, along with everything else it had stomped on along the way. Yumi could hear the roar of a fire engine coming from the town as well as various screams. She also felt a hand on her shoulder.

"You get into the scanner and I'll hold off wrecky." Odd had reached them just in time.

Yumi nodded and helped Andrew towards the lift.

Odd approached the alloy monster that was dragging itself across the bridge.

"Well X.A.N.A, you've really outdone yourself this time! I have no idea how they are going to a Ford to replace those cars!" Odd laughed and had a car door thrown at him for his trouble.

The lift reached the control room. Jeremy looked away from the monitor to see Yumi help Andrew into the room. He left his chair in a rush and took her place.

"Get to the scanner room as fast as possible. Aelita's alone on Lyoko with hornets and blocks all over the place." Jeremy instructed her

Andrew slowly headed over to the chair.

"In the meantime, I'll head upstairs." Ulrich was already grabbing onto the ladder.

Andrew found his way through the various monitors in front of him.

"What are you doing?" Jeremy was worried all of a sudden. He had let Andrew touch the super computer again.

"Did you fix the return to the past?" Andrew answered back.

He had forgotten all about it until that point.

"In that case you'll need me if you want to do it in time."

Laser shots trailed across the floor and Aelita had little else she could do but run for her life and find some sort of cover. Two more blocks were on her trail as well as Miranda. Every time she got near the tower she was chased off again, at this rate she would never get there. Another laser shot hit her square in the back.

"Aelita! One more shot and you're done for!"

She rolled onto her front and saw the horde of monsters on their way. They were eager to finish what X.A.N.A had started a year ago. They all took aim and prepared to de-virtualise Aelita permanently from Lyoko, and the real world. She covered her face with her arm. No shots came towards her however, but various pieces of block were scattered around her. A razor sharp fan soared past her and into another block before returning to its master.

"Hope I didn't leave you all alone for too long Aelita!" Yumi was ready to save the day.

"You know me. I love playing with X.A.N.A's monsters." Aelita smiled back.

Their reunion was interrupted by hornet shots flying past Aelita's elf life ear. Yumi blocked the incoming fire with her fan.

"Aelita go!" She commanded her desperately. For the last time Aelita ran to the tower, and towards the impending problem of the final two blocks.

Yumi sent her fan soaring out towards the hornet swarm, but they were simply able to fly to the side. Hornets were always a problem to her.

"Why don't these things keep still?"

Time for a backup plan. She launched herself behind a nearby rock as further lasers broke it apart. Using her telekinesis she lifted the heavy shards and propelled them towards the insects. There were too many to dodge and X.A.N.A's monsters were sent tumbling into the digital sea.

"Nice one Yumi." Jeremy spoke over the computer.

"Have you fixed the return to the past yet Jeremy?" Yumi asked as she sprinted towards the tower.

"Andrew and I are working on it now."

Andrew was typing away as Jeremy lent against the chair and monitored his process.

"Just get rid of this and…"

"Don't forget the Virtual atom stabiliser."

"Yeah I'm just getting there. What part was that again?"

Jeremy groaned with frustration.

Two blocks ahead and one tower to deactivate. Yumi steeled herself and aimed her fan. The blocks opened fire. She bobbed and weaved her way past and threw her weapon. Unfortunately her fan was unable to hit home after one laser knocked it off course. She ran over to pick it up but received a volley of shots.

"Yumi you have 40 life points left, please don't fail us now!" Jeremy kept an eye on the Lyoko action and another on Andrew's actions.

She scooped up her fan in frustration and ran straight for the blocks. She wouldn't miss this time. Her fan roared as she threw it like a discus at the nearest block. Slicing the eye of X.A.N.A and then ricocheting back into her hand, the fan ended one block. The other ran around the tower to catch her. She confused it by keeping the tower between her and her hunter. Just one block to go and they were free. That of course and a certain mega tank called Miranda. Yumi saw the black sphere open up in front of her and fire up its laser. She turned to her side and saw the block looking straight at her. One laser and one energy blast.

Aelita was alone.

Odd was working brilliantly as a distraction for the sculptor monster outside; unfortunately it was not so good for his health. He dodged its various punches and grabs, but he was already covered in blood and bruises.

"Is that all… you've got … X.A.N.A du…de." He stumbled across the bridge in his beaten state.

Various parts had fallen away from the creature and were now littering the floor. Unable to dodge any longer, the golem was free to slam Odd against the bridge railing. He was knocked out immediately. With no prankster to distract X.A.N.A, it was free to enter the factory and cause mayhem. But it didn't count on Odd's roommate breaking off part of its arm with a large pole. The rubbish was cleaved from its claw and joined the mess across the bridge.

"Alright X.A.N.A, now it's my turn."

Aelita had no more life points to spare and no way of tricking or bypassing the monsters. The Tower was surrounded by the mountainside and the only entrance was covered by Miranda and one last block.

"I can't do it Jeremy. They'll hit me before I even get close."

Jeremy thought the situation over again and again in his head. There was only one solution, but even that might not work.

"You know what we need to do Jeremy." It was as if Andrew could read his mind.

"We never did finish voting on it." Jeremy knew that if they went ahead, Andrew would never forget about Lyoko.

"It doesn't look like we, or Aelita have a choice. Jeremy… send me to Lyoko."


	9. Chapter 9 - Code of Conduct

Jeremy was back in control. With the head piece on and the scanner programs active he instructed Andrew down below.

"You're all set to get in the scanner now Andrew."

The tall tube was before him; all of a sudden the whole venture felt nauseating. He repressed his nerves and took one painful step into the scanner, and then another. The scanner doors closed with clouds of smoke and a loud bang. Andrew was cut off from the rest of the world. He had wanted safety and peace from everyone around him, but now he craved company trapped in that horrid box. The scanner began its operation and Andrew was slowly lifted into the air.

"Transfer, Andrew."

He span on the spot as the scanner did its work creating a digital signature of him, binding him to the machine and making him immune to the mind wipe caused by the return to the past function.

"Scanning, Andrew."

The last pieces of code were ready. Jeremy hovered his finger over the enter key. Was he really about to do this? This boy had maliciously put Aelita and the others in danger because he had known nothing but hatred. A doubt grew in his head. What if Andrew was beyond saving? All it would take is a slight spark and he could go bang. But Jeremy had also seen the change in the boy as he worked on the super computer. Their talk had opened the air between them, and Andrew's past to himself. Maybe friendship was his cure.

"Do it Jeremy." Aelita encouraged him from her hiding spot on Lyoko.

"Virtualisation." One tap of the enter key sent Andrew into X.A.N.A's domain.

Andrew's virtual essence was translated through the super computer into the mountain region of Lyoko. No longer was he a lonely boy from Earth, now he would have to be a hero. His body became whole again. In his new virtual form Andrew fell to the ground, face first into the virtual dirt.

Jeremy grinned as he heard Andrew groin from the fall. Every one of the gang had done the same thing on their first trip, although it was usually bottom first. Andrew opened his eyes and saw the floating mountains around him. He was in total awe. It dawned on him what he was about to do, and something changed in him from that moment on. He would make something of this opportunity; he would recreate himself into someone worth fighting beside.

"X.A.N.A, you'd better be ready." He whispered to himself.

He took the first glimpse of his uniform and weapon. He was fully dressed in black commando gear. He wore thick black boots, and the cloth of his uniform featured binary codes all over it. What they denoted it did not know. He could feel something on the top of his head, at first he thought it was a headpiece like Jeremy's, but really it was something Odd would describe as 'much cooler'. Andrew grabbed it with his right hand. He pulled it down slightly but it wouldn't move. Whatever it was it was useless. That was until he nodded his head quite forcefully. The device fell down over his right eye. It was a targeting reticule. All of a sudden Andrew was able to see much farther that he ever could, like someone had built a camera into his eye and zoomed in.

"Nice." Andrew grinned to himself.

"Try looking at what's on your back!" Jeremy helped him from the factory.

Whatever it was it was tall, or at least long. Andrew yanked it and it came away from a metal backpack attached to his commando uniform. He held the weapon in his hands. Lyoko had given him a high-tech bow. He aimed it outwards and pulled back on the spring. Andrew had always wanted to learn archery, and now it seemed was his chance! As he prepared the bow, he noticed the eye piece zoom in on the bows target. The small reticule zoomed in to where any fired arrows would land.

He was enjoying himself until a lone Kankrelat scurried towards him. Andrew only saw it due to him aiming his bow in its direction. As the bows aim came in contact with the roach monster, the small reticule in the eye piece homed in and turned into a crossed out circle with an eye of X.A.N.A in the centre. Andrew was anxious to test his new weapon, but there was one problem.

"Jeremy I don't have any arrows!" His backpack was void of any sort of quiver.

"You must have. Check your belt." Andrew did as Jeremy said but still no luck.

He frantically searched until he felt a small button on his bow where it was meant to be grasped. He clenched it slightly and a thin compartment opened up along the bow. A single arrow hung out from the bow, ready to be propelled towards the Kankrelat.

"Sweet! Compact storage!" Andrew pulled the arrow out and the bow automatically closed.

He repositioned his bow as the Kankrelat scurried closer, now with ammunition. He nodded and his targeting visor moved into position. With a smooth pull backwards he aimed the arrow outwards before the monster could have a chance to fight back. With his target locked, he released. As he did so the arrow was engulfed in a blue light as it soared away from him like a laser pulse. It was a perfect shot straight through the Kankrelat's eye symbol. With the arrow still stuck in its head the monster stumbled about before exploding into a pixelated mess. The arrow fell to the floor before being consumed by static and disappearing.

"Bulls-eye!" Andrew cheered.

"Nice one Andrew, but you've got no time to hang around. Get to Aelita before X.A.N.A's monsters discover her again. If she's de-virtualised then we will lose her for good! She's north north-east." Jeremy was still frantic and unsure that Andrew was up to the task.

"She'll be fine Jeremy, trust me." Andrew headed off to take out X.A.N.A's remaining host, and to finish Odd's date with Miranda for him.

Luckily for Odd, X.A.N.A was easily distracted. If it hadn't have been for Ulrich then he would have been squashed into paste. The Sculptor monster was unstable after the explosion and great chunks of metal and plaster fell from it as it swung its iron-clad arms to crush the acrobatic boy. With his metal pole in hand Ulrich cartwheeled his way out of the Sculptor's continuing attacks. Odd had found himself back on his feet, bloody but still stubbornly determined. Why should Ulrich suddenly have all the fun? Ulrich sprinted further into the factory to find some cover. X.A.N.A's handy work unleashed an unwieldy swing at Ulrich, only to collide straight into one of the factories supports. The girder was bent and the monster's arm almost demolished as it desperately tried to release itself from its mangled state around the support.

"And I thought you were smarter than that X.A.N.A." Ulrich taunted as he rested the bent pole over his shoulder.

One thing you should never do is underestimate a determined AI. With no found vigour the beast tore its own arm off, causing sparks to build up along the severed limb. Harnessing this energy X.A.N.A sent it straight at Ulrich. The shock hit him dead on. He flung the pole to the side as his back met the hard floor. The sculptor finally had him where it wanted. Ulrich tried to stand but every movement winded him. The floor had cracked two of his ribs, leaving him in no position to resist.

"Is that the way you treat guests X.A.N.A?!" Odd had to keep it distracted. He saw the state Ulrich was in and X.A.N.A only need one swing. Odd had no way to fight back, being wounded himself. The Monster turned round to meet him as the factory elevator approached the top floor. The heavy doors swung open revealing another distraction.

"I do appreciate your love of recycling X.A.N.A but you take it one step too far." Yumi was ready to take over much to the boys' confusion.

"Yumi? Don't tell me the return to the past isn't fixed yet!" Odd shouted, regretting afterwards as it caused his chest to hurt.

"Worse I'm afraid. Andrew's dealing with the monsters on Lyoko, Aelita can't get anywhere near the tower."

That was it. They were finished. They couldn't rely on a newbie to do what they could not.

"But Andrew doesn't know a Kankrelat from his elbow! If I couldn't do it with my awesome skills then how can he?"

Yumi ignored him and advanced on the damaged sculptor. Odd was wounded, as was Ulrich. A normal person would have crushed them there and then but X.A.N.A was no person, logic drove him to remove the largest threat in the room and at that time it was Yumi.

Aelita was in sight, as was the tower and X.A.N.A's remaining monsters. With a quick dash Andrew reached the virtual girl in peril hiding behind a large rock. For the first time he could see her face to face. She was what had brought Andrew together with the group and his new life. It was almost humbling.

"Well, you must be Andrew." She greeted him and then smiled.

"Hello princess." Andrew had no idea why he called her that and felt stupid afterwards.

She laughed; knowing that that was Odd and Ulrich's pet name for her.

The last Mega-tank, Miranda, saw the new warrior and rolled into the fray.

"Be careful Andrew, you won't be able to destroy that thing while it's closed."

Andrew pressed the button on his bow and revealed another arrow. With a short nod he was aiming towards the bowling ball. He held his breath and waited. The monster opened up to let out an energy pulse and end Andrew's first trip to Lyoko prematurely. Andrew released the string. Being cautious, the tank closed immediately to avoid death. Instead of bouncing off the monster's tough shell the arrow instead pierced its skin and clung on. An electrical field covered Miranda, freezing her on the spot.

"That's incredible… Andrew, it looks like your arrows can stun monsters. It didn't take a loss to its life points but it can't do anything. Better hurry up before it wears off." Jeremy scanned the monster for the effects of the arrow.

The two warriors ran past the incapacitated irritation towards the tower.

"What did you guys ever do without me?" Andrew joked to Aelita.

"Don't get cocky now Andrew, that's usually Odd's mistake." She replied.

Only one monster remained. The block left its guarding spot to face Aelita's final protector. Its cubic body span as it unleashed volleys of lasers. Aelita nimbly dodged them but Andrew wasn't so quick. He took two laser shots to the chest as he ran forward.

"Come on…" Jeremy crossed his fingers.

Andrew knelt down, prepared a final arrow and took aim.

"They… always… pay." Shooting past Aelita the arrow ended the last block. With a free path she headed straight on. Victory was dead ahead.

"Mission complete Jeremy." Andrew stood up and took a sigh of relieve.

"Yes!" Jeremy roared in the factory and waved his arms in the air.

Andrew took one last look at the Mountain region on his first day as a Lyoko Warrior. There was no one around; Andrew had finally found his peace.

"I was made for this…"

A large bang behind Andrew caused him to turn round. Miranda was ready with a final parting gift.

"Oh sh-" Miranda's energy burst de-virtualised the new warrior.

In the tower ahead Aelita approached the central platform. Various squares of data surrounded her as they coursed through the tower. Aelita rose off of the ground towards the main tower controls above her. With a backflip she was on position to land. She took an angelic step onto the floating floor and moved to the control panel in front of her. With one scan of her hand the tower identified her, showing her name and an input menu. With one command, X.A.N.A's control of the tower was forfeited… Code lyoko had reset it all.

"Tower deactivated." Lyoko's guardian announced.

"Phew... at last!" Jeremy added.

Yumi sat in the elevator with her hands over her head. She was beaten and terrified as the monster made one last swing at her. Before the sparking arm could reach however, the beast stopped dead in its tracks. X.A.N.A had been forced to wait for another opportunity to kill is arch-enemies. The Tyrannical multi-agent program lost control of the sculptor and it fell to pieces just in front of Yumi.

Back inside the tower, Aelita prepared herself for the towers next action. Slowly the floating panels around her fell into the abyss below and a bright, white light rose with urgent speed up towards her.

"I hope this works… return to the past now!" Jeremy pressed the enter key and launched the program.

The white light engulfed all of Lyoko before rising from the centre of the dome in the factory, eventually covering the factory and then the entire town before continuing out further into the world. Another victory for the human race.

The group were back at Kadic academy just before lunch, giving lucky Odd another meal. This time though, Andrew headed straight to the gang's table. He sat next to Odd as the whole table grew silent.

"So how did I do?" He smiled at them.

"You were… terrific!" Jeremy grinned back at him and stuck his thumbs up in approval, leaving the rest of the gang completely stunned.

Odd was the one to break the stunned silence.

"Are you going to eat that?" Odd pointed to Andrew's croissant.

"I'll swap for a hot chocolate." The entire group laughed.

"So Andrew, how does it feel to be a Lyoko Warrior?" Yumi helped Andrew to feel part of the group.

"It was the greatest thing I've ever done, ever. But that isn't the best part, because now I have friends I can share it with." Andrew put his arm round Odd's shoulders and squeezed him causing him to let out an eek sound.

"You can put your past behind you now Andrew. While you're here, you'll always have friends." Yumi winked at him.

The group saw Sissi, Nicholas and Herb approach their usual table, the one that's close enough for Sissi to ease-drop on the group of course. She looked disgusted that Andrew wasn't sitting with Jeremy's group and huffed.

"Speaking of which, I think it's time for us to share our inner most secrets with you about how we keep ourselves amused!" Odd moved over to the opposite side of Andrew on the bench.

He broke off a piece of Andrew's croissant, positioned it onto his fork and flicked it at Sissi. The food landed straight on her plate, leaving her dumbfounded about what just happened. He tried it again and this time she saw something fly past her plate. She started swatting the air, thinking it to be a fly.

"Are you alright Sissi? Herb asked her.

"Maybe she's been possessed? You know like in that episode of Doctor Shrink where he experiments on that girl?" Nicholas added his two cents… literarily two cents, translated into brains he couldn't afford anything else.

"Just shut up you two! I saw a fly go past and it's not getting away!"

The group giggled on their table. A furious Sissi turned to them with her hands curled against her hips.

"And what do you dorks find so funny?!" She screamed.

"Oh nothing, we're just glad to see you so in touch with your dancing side!" Odd teased.

She sat back down. Odd quickly pulled the spoon out of his pocket and went to flick an even bigger piece at her, but his pull was a bit too forceful and the plastic spoon snapped in his hand. The broken spoon soared over to Sissi's table and landing directly in her hot chocolate. The drink splashed upwards, covering her purple dress.

"Right, I'm off!" Odd legged it as fast as possible towards the exit.

"Della Robbia! When I catch you I'm going to rip your head off!" Sissi echoed through the whole cafeteria as she pursued the fleeing prankster, hot chocolate dripping the whole way.

"And that's Odd at his finest!" Jeremy put out his hands as if he was presenting him. His group shared another laugh as Herb ran after Sissi.

The day, or days (time travel is confusing) had shown to Andrew that his darker side was no longer needed. He had found what he had wanted all along. He had friends that cared about each other enough to risk their own lives on a daily basis. The day was over and he was back in his room, back to how it all was, but he still couldn't help but throw his sculptors in the bin. He looked at his sketches on his bed. One of Aelita and the one he drew in the factory a few days before rested on his duvet, exactly where they were before school, and after, and after again (damn time travel!). He sat on top of his bed and took a good, hard look at the picture of the super computer and the monitors.

"The most important sketch I've ever done. To think the secrets this picture holds…" Andrew recollected the day. He thought about the sculptures blowing up in the street, his trip onto Lyoko and his sweet looking bow. Did all of that really happen? Technically it hadn't, but Lyoko had saved his memories. He stared at the sketch for a short time longer.

"This place saved my life… It gave me hope. I'm so glad I went into that factory… This really was the sketch of a lifetime…

**The End**

Your darker side is your strongest side…

You have nothing to live for now…

They took that away from you…

With the promise of friendship…

What do you live for…?

Do what you do best…

Make they pay.

*I hope you enjoyed the first story in The Forgotten Warrior Trilogy! I have to make a shout out to princessbinas for inspiring Odd croissant flicking scene! Thanks for you suggestion!

If you want to continue reading the Forgotten Warrior Trilogy then be on the look out for the first chapter of story 2 which should be up soon. It will be called:

The Forgotten Trilogy Story 2 - The Cost of Redemption *


End file.
